Hartford's Ring Of Parks

In little more than one year, five of Hartford's premiere parks came into existence.

All cities go through phases as they develop from small ports or county hubs. In the mid-1890s, Hartford went through a phase known as "the rain of parks," which fell around the city's periphery. In a span of months — August 1894 to November 1895 — Pope, Elizabeth, Goodwin, Riverside and Keney parks came into existence.

"A ring of parks connected by parkways was a pretty unique thing in the country at that time," said Phil Barlow, a founding partner with TO Design LLC, a landscape architectural firm in New Britain and a lecturer on the city's park system. "Sure, other cities had a park or two, but a system of this magnitude was pretty much unheard of. It literally was a ring of parks."

The leaders of Hartford knew the potential present and future value of a park system even in 1894 when the city created a committee to oversee the new park system.

"It should be the aim of the city not to have these parks mere isolated spots of ground for decorative purposes but a continuous property," noted a December 1894 Hartford Courant article, "for the benefit of all the people, especially for those people who are unable to enjoy the large grounds and gardens which those more fortunate have. They should be for the daily use of the people and no part of the city should be neglected in the movement."

Before the 1850s, the city had few open spaces except for a few small greens. In November 1853, the city's common council ordered a park laid out between the Park River and Trinity College to be known as "The Central Park." It became the first municipal park — funded and approved by a vote of city residents — in the country.

"Two men are in large measure responsible for Hartford's present park system," an article in the Dec. 26, 1947, Courant read. "Rev. Dr. Francis Goodwin, a wealthy amateur botanist and architect, was known as the father of the Hartford Park System. If he was the father of the system, then Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell, who proposed the city's first park, is the system's grandfather. Both men have long been dead, but Hartford's citizens of all ages today profit from their efforts."

Although Bushnell asked his friend Frederick Law Olmsted to design the park, he was already busy with New York City's Central Park. Olmsted's friend, Jacob Weidenmann, was hired by the city to design and build the park, which was completed in the early 1860s. Three days before Bushnell passed away, the council changed the park's name to Bushnell Park.

Goodwin continued Bushnell's work by talking with some of the city's rich and biggest landowners and planting the seed of land preservation and park creation.

"At that time, several of the city's largest landowners were preparing their wills and deciding what to do with their property," the 1947 article read. "Rev. Dr. Goodwin saw that the time was ripe to convince them they should give their lands to the city for parks. The existence of Pope, Elizabeth, Keney and Colt parks shows he was right."

Henry Keney wanted to give most of his estate to Hartford Hospital — instead the 700-acre Keney Park was built. Former state Treasurer Charles Pond wanted to give his 90 acres for a home for alcoholics; Elizabeth Park was created instead. Col. Alexander Pope gave Bartholomew Farm to the city. A book club discussion on parks — led by Goodwin — in the home of Elizabeth Colt, wife of Samuel Colt, led to her giving her estate, Armsmear, to the city after her death.

Here is a bit of history behind the five parks that "rained" down on the city. As the Rev. William De Loss Love Jr. said at the dedication of Elizabeth Park, "There is no other city in all our land which can produce a parallel of such timely and effective generosity in connection with its system of parks."

Keney Park

Henry Keney was born March 20, 1806. He and his brother Walter started a wholesale grocery business.

"Henry Keney died on Nov. 15, 1891 after a busy and useful life," read a Courant article from 1924, "full of kind actions and good deeds. He was a grand old man, and the city of Hartford, in its business and social life, is better because of his having lived in it." The two brothers were so close, they held everything in common from living in the same house, using the same bank and expense accounts and having a joint will.

The brothers' joint estate left $2.5 million when they died. After "a number of generous bequests to local charitable institutions," the remainder of the money was used to "purchase a suitable tract of land in the northerly part of the city of Hartford to lay out for a public park to be forever known and designated as Keney Park." A board of trustees was created to build the park.

A large portion of the park was created out of what was known as the "Ten Mile Woods" to the north of the city where Henry Keney loved to drive his horses and carriage. The 400 acres of land was purchased from more than 30 different property owners and consisted of woods and farms. More than 250 of the acres were "natural woods." Today, Keney is one of the largest municipal parks in the country.

Eight miles of gravel paths were constructed and more than 1 million yards of earth was moved around the site. The highest point was 165 feet above the Connecticut River and the lowest 22 feet. Hills 30 feet high were created, and more than 1 million trees and shrubs were planted. More than 54 miles of drainage pipes were installed.

"It has been transformed into the beautiful suburban Keney Park, the like of which is not to be found," a Courant article read. "There is scarcely an inch of ground in the whole park but has been worked over, some of it several times."

In 1912, the gates of the park were opened to automobile traffic after a few years of allowing just walkers, bicyclists and people on horseback. But the "trend of the times has left the horses far to the rear... The sway of the automobile has forced the trustees to yield to the latest means of locomotion and open at least a portion of the park for their use," read a Courant article from 1912.

With a few rules: Speed must not exceed 15 mph; caution must be exercised when approaching turns and crossroads; motorcycles, commercial vehicles and test cars are not allowed, and no instruction in driving automobiles can be given on any road.

Although the funding to create a park was in Keney's will, the board of trustees didn't relinquish control until 1924 when the land became city property. "Within these 700 acres in this sanctuary animals or birds are not allowed to be shot or bird's nests disturbed or wild flowers picked or plants dug."

Pope Park

Col. Albert Pope was one of the world's largest bicycle manufacturers and automakers and had factories in Hartford. In 1894, he donated 73 acres of what was known as Bartholomew Farm on both sides of Park Street "for use by the citizens as a public park for all time without restriction," viewing it as a peaceful retreat for his workers. He believed the park would create happy and healthy workers who in turn would produce better Columbia bicycles and Pope-Hartford automobiles.

"Hartford is an old city," P.C. Royce, secretary of the Hartford Fire Insurance Co., said in a November 1894 article shortly after Pope donated the land. "But it had not paid enough attention to the idea of making it a fit place to live in. This proposed park would be in that direction."

During the first half of the 20th century, the park drew thousands to see the city's fireworks and band concerts. On July 4, 1935, the fireworks honored the state's 300th anniversary.

"Recalling memories of municipal fireworks of other years," read a 1935 Courant article, "the spectacular exhibition at Pope Park ranged the heights of color and design, excitement and surprise, and came to a breath-taking climax with brilliant set pieces symbolic of the spirit of the holiday and of Connecticut's Tercentenary."

During World War II, the park hosted a night incendiary exercise by the War Department Civilian Protection School. The exercise featured the destruction of a three-story frame building by thermite and high explosive bombs.

"The action of flares, incendiary bombs, high explosives, petroleum bombs, magnesium and thermite bombs and the methods used in their control will be explained graphically," read a November 1942 article. "All spectators will be kept at least 300 feet from the exhibition, since real explosives will be used."

Riverside Park

The 75-acre park along the banks of the Connecticut River was the first to be purchased by the board of park commissioners. It included a wading pool, public bathhouses, baseball diamonds and a babies' hospital.

In 1900, park superintendent Theodore Wirth wrote a report about the park to the board.

"The wading pool, completed in July has been patronized all summer by crowds of children," he wrote. "Their merry and frolicsome splashing, wading and spraying has been enjoyed as much by the numerous onlookers as by children making use of the same."

Wirth wrote about the transformation of Riverside from local hangout to the popular park.

"What a life there was down here at all times during the past summer months, and what contrast to what it used to be in years gone by," he wrote. "The river and the groves and meadows were there always, but in place of being the recreation grounds for the public in general, it used to be the rendezvous of the lowest class of individuals."

A July 1907 article in The Courant called the park a "paradise for children of the east side."

"No park of the system has a more useful mission than Riverside Park," the article read. "Its purpose is to provide for the population of the city's most thickly settled district ... the location of the park is such that few outside of this district know of its beauties and its fields of usefulness.

"The park is a fine breathing place, right at the very doors of those who need it most, with a clear view down Connecticut's largest river ... In summer it is usually the one place where a breeze may be found if there is one anywhere."

Elizabeth Park

In 1897, when the estate of Charles M. Pond transferred ownership of Elizabeth Park to the city, The Courant noted the property had been so well laid out by Pond "it was in effect a ready made park." The 90-acre park, which sits mostly in West Hartford, was named after Pond's late wife, Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth Park, named after a woman whose grace and beauty are still a sweet memory in the minds of many of our citizens," read a June 1906 article, "is the spot in Hartford where nature in all its glory of scenery, beauty of color and fragrance of perfume, fostered and cultivated by the hand of man, presents her best appearance and invites all citizens to see the full value of a gift by a prominent citizen."

The first planting of roses in the park included 100 bushes. Today that number has reached more than 15,000. Even in 1935, a "rose week" celebrated the 500 varieties of roses at the park.

"In bloom, the Elizabeth Park rose gardens, the first municipal rose garden in the world, and probably the largest in the country, is a fairyland of beauty," read a June 23, 1935, article. "There are roses of every hue, from the purest white to the deepest red, tiny roses of the minutest perfection and large ones fluffy as powder puffs, roses on arches above you, on the ground below you, and on the trellises before you. It is truly a new world, and a rosy one."

Not only roses thrived at the park. There was an iris garden with 487 varieties. There were annual and perennial gardens and a rock garden. An annual fall chrysanthemum show included more than 350 varieties.

"From the last frost of spring to the first frost of fall, flowers can be found in bloom in Elizabeth Park, making it, with their wide range of colors and delicate scents, a place of rare beauty," the article noted.

Edward Norberg was the creator of the rose garden and foreman of the park from its beginnings until the 1920s. He was known as "the one who loved the rose."

"It was as guardian of the roses that he became invaluable to the park," read a 1927 Courant article on his death. "He was a man who sought no praise for his work but who devoted his life to the cultivation of the Elizabeth Park Gardens because of his love for the rose... He not only was a lover of roses, but he also 'knew' them. The excellent appearance and great success of the gardens each year were entirely due to him."

There was a "great squirrel attack" on the park's field of sunflowers during the fall of 1915.

"The sunflowers are no more!" read a September 1915 article. "The squirrels have got them! Such was the sad tale that one of the flower men at the park had to tell. The little rodents climb the large stalks and with great dexterity remove the seed pod of the flower."

Goodwin Park

The 237-acre park in Hartford and a portion of Wethersfield is named after the Rev. Francis Goodwin, who was ordained as an Episcopal priest early in life before leaving to manage his family's fortunes. He and J. Pierpont Morgan were first cousins.

"His crowning act was that he boxed the compass of the City of Hartford with beauty, bringing happiness and health to countless citizens of all classes. Future generations will be blessed by his deeds," the Rev. Sherrod Soule wrote in a biography of Goodwin.

Originally named "South Park," the land was purchased or acquired through condemnation proceedings in 1895. The landscape architectural firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Elliott was hired to draw up plans for a meadow and tree plantation.

In 1905, a few clergymen decided to go to the park and hit golf balls around, and a seed was planted for one of the first and oldest public golf courses in the country. By 1907, a nine-hole course was opened at the park, with another nine holes added in 1912. In 1922, golfers circulated a petition asking the city to charge green fees so "better attention might be given to the course." The charge? 10 cents for each nine holes of play.

"Even after 50 years of divot-digging by untold thousands of golfers, Goodwin Park's fairways will hold their own against any in the country," read a 1955 Hartford Courant article. "It is to the great credit of those responsible for their upkeep that they remain as fine as they are. Goodwin is everyone's country club and all are welcome."

In August 1924, the golf course hosted the Harford Open and more than 120 players, professional and amateur, teed off and putted through 36 holes.

"Many of the entries are well-known in the golfing world," read a Courant article from Aug. 9, 1924, "and the general ability of the outstanding players has brought forth the prediction that both the amateur and the professional record for the layout will be broken... a record gallery is expected to watch the progress of the event."